it's the 2018 hardball awards. good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington, and tonight we're celebrating the good, the bad and the fms infamous of the pas year with the hardball awards and of course the tweets that define 2018 including the award for the most glorious exit from trump world this year. the best concession speech, the trumpiest thing said by someone not named trump, and the big award of the night, the oddest moment of the year in trump

world. well, a panel of experts that's the "hardball" producers picked the winners and the results were tabulated by the accounting firm. no one else knows the results. to help discuss the nominees i want to bring in my panel for the hour. samstein, jennifer ruben, jason johnson and david millbank, political columnist also with "the washington post." the category is best diversion in regards to the mueller investigation. when news broke about the russian investigation, these nominees did their best to change topics. the first nominee is the president himself who when it comes to the original crime of hacking, doesn't even believe it happened. >> all i can do is ask the question. my people came to me, dancoats came to me and some others. they said they think it's

russia. i have president putin. he just said it's not russia. i will say this. i don't see any reason why it would be. >> the next nominee is the president's lawyer, rudy giuliani who made this mind-bending comment about the nature of truth. >> when you tell me he should testify because he's going to tell the truth and he shouldn't worry, and that's silly because it's somebody's version of the truth, not the truth. >> the truth is truth. i don't mean to go like -- >> no, it isn't truth. the truth isn't truth. the president of the united states said i didn't -- >> truth isn't truth, do you realize -- i think this is going to become a bad meme. >> the third nominee is trump again. he claimed he didn't know who he hired for attorney general even though he hired him after seeing his audition on fox news. >> i didn't know matt whitaker. i don't know matt whitaker.

in all fairness to matt whitaker, who i again i didn't know. matt whitaker is a highly respected man but i didn't know matt whitaker. >> how easily do you bounce off the topic de jure and just start talking about something. >> news isn't news, truth isn't truth. that's the best diversion of all. are you going to believe your own eyes or what i tell you? if you can convince people what they see in front of them is not true, that's the best diversion of all. >> i want to give high points to trump for the level of difficulty. that remark was made in helsinki when the whole world knew he wasn't telling the truth there. still in terms of the study i think we really have to respect the scholarly accomplishments of the former mayor. >> what's it say that you can actually on tape videotape and just start rambling off and

knowing they got to put you on anyway. that unrelated as it is, they're still going to play the tape? >> i'm hesitant to answer that being on tv, but i will say that television is always fleeting and there's always tomorrow, right? >> i think rudy wins it just because of the affect it had on our colleague chuck todd to absolute collapse. >> it showed he was listening. he heard absurdity in realtime. >> it's the kind of answer you could only dream of getting. >> and the award, the best diversion on mueller, rudy giuliani. rudy giuliani, truth isn't true. our next honor is the trump award for bravery. at least as defined by donald trump, and with so many investigations president trump likes to share an encouraging word of support for those willing to stand up against the rule of law. got it?

well, the first nomination is this tweet from president trump about roger stone. currently under scrutiny by mueller for his ties to wikileaks. trump wrote, i will never testify against trump. this statement was recently made by roger stone. essentially stating that he will not be forced by a rogue and out of control prosecutor to make up lies and stories about president trump. nice to know that some people still have guts. the second nominee is this tweet from president trump again after paul manafort was found guilty of financial crimes. i feel very badly for paul manafort and his wonderful family. justice took a 12-year-old tax case among other things, applied tremendous pressure on him and unlike michael cohen, he refused to break. make up stories in order to get a deal. such respect for a brave man. and president trump who remind yourself fired michael flynn because of his lies. let's watch him. >> i feel badly for general flynn. he lost his house, he lost his

life, and some people say he lied and some people say he didn't lie. i mean, really it turned out maybe he didn't lie. >> maybe he didn't lie. that's his endorsement. these guys, if you stand up for this guy, you're a great man. >> and dan mcgahn was praised for not being a rat like john dean. i just love the michael flynn one. some people say he lied, michael flynn said he lied, the white house said he lied, his plea agreement says he lied. >> but he was open mined. so he gives the champ remains the champ. >> right. at the end of the day i may support you when it's convenient for me, but paul manafort he went to jail. if you continue to lie and sneak information to trump after he went to mueller, that a brave man. >> there's so much of the james cagny 1930s about rat, dirty

rat. and the thing about i'm not going to talk to them so why do you talk to them? >> and you're missing the biggest tell of all of this. there were three scare quotes like justice and deal, as if those are like ominous words. so i have to give it to manafort it's very brave to survive three scare quotes like that. and if the panel doesn't agree with me, i'm sorry. >> you know, i'm going to give it to flynn because the man almost wrecked and perhaps he has wrecked a plea deal by taking trump's exact position which is maybe i lied, maybe i didn't lie, i was trapped and the judge came down on him like a ton of bricks. he gets extra points by trying to play the trump line in court. >> i think they have different versions of bravery. but the award goes to for bravery, trump's idea, paul

manafort. everybody here seems to know these. our next award is for the president's best late night tweet. it came in the middle of the night in august when the president simply declared no collusion, rigged witch hunt. the next nominee is the president's threat against iran. quote, to iranian president rouhani, never, ever threaten the united states again or you will suffer consequences the likes of few throughout history have ever stood for before. be cautious. that sounds very middle eastern, doesn't it. the third tweet came from the president last january after michael wolfe released his book.

now sloppy steve has been dumped like a dog. mob talk here. >> i guess just in terms of captization the iran tweet really takes the cake. but there is something about steve bannon being called names. the way he'll call his own people names. you know, tillerson became dumb as a rock and omarosa became a lowlife dog. >> but he cried when i fired him? where did that come from? who made that up? it's a powerful image. >> i think in creativity it's neck and neck. >> i i think he was talking to the iranians, you can almost imagine them saying he's talking our language. >> this is right from the iranian play book. i heard braveheart music. i was closed between the iranian

and then the rigged witch hunt because i see the president waking up from a fevered dream like rigged witch hunt and then goes back to sleep. >> do you think he remembers these tweets? >> i think he does. because he's constantly watching snl. >> i go with the all caps because it sort of has the ring of a bond villain. this is sort of the line that the bond villain would say i will destroy you. >> in your phone, can you do it all caps? you have to do it each with time. >> one of these days he's going to figure out how to i use emojis. >> i can't give that word that could cause like a j calamity. >> that covfefe award, the best

worst night tweet by trump, 11:32 p.m. january 5th attacks michael wolfe and steve bannon. he creates these things like he cried when he was fire. anyway, the panel's sticking around. we've got so much more to get to in the "hardball" awards show of 2018 including the most inglorious exit, the nastiest firing from trump world. will it be jeff sessions, trump's epa administrator scott pruitt who's facing at least a dozen investigations when he was canned or the man reportedly fired when he was on the toilet? i think that was a general, no that was a famous business guy. no, this is "hardball," where the action is. , this is "hardba the action is. below the gum line and plaque can lead to weakened enamel and other problems. so now i use this... crest gum & enamel repair works below the gum line to neutralize harmful plaque bacteria and helps repair and strengthen weakened enamel. gum & enamel repair, from crest.

healthier gums, healthier mouth. crest. healthy, beautiful smiles for life.

they have businesses to grow customers to care for lives to get home to they use stamps.com print discounted postage for any letter any package any time right from your computer all the amazing services of the post office only cheaper get our special tv offer a 4-week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps.com/tv and never go to the post office again!

i am a techie dad.n. i believe the best technology should feel effortless. like magic. at comcast, it's my job to develop, apps and tools that simplify your experience. my name is mike, i'm in product development at comcast. we're working to make things simple, easy and awesome.

welcome back to "hardball". the next category is the best inglorious exit from trump world. president trump, a man famous for firing people on television, is notorious for firing his west wing staff from the comfort of a tweet. the first nominee is former attorney general jeff sessions. the day after the november midterm elections, trump was asked about sessions' fate. let's watch him. >> and can you give us clarity, sir, on your thinking currently now after the midterms, about your attorney general and your deputy attorney general, do they have long term job security -- >> i'd rather answer that at a little bit different time. we're looking at a lot of different things including cabinet -- >> well, apparently a little different time was two hours later in a tweet naming his successor matt whitaker with trump writing, we thank attorney general jeff sessions for his service and wish him well.

the second nominee, former secretary of state rex tillerson. tillerson got a similar firing with trump announcing his replacement in a morning tweet. the daily beast reported the chief of staff john kelly said he gave tillerson a heads up on the news while tillerson was on the toilet. and last, but certainly not least, former epa administrator scott pruitt. after months of increasingly bad headlines and questions over how he still had a job, trump wrote, i have accepted the resignation of scott pruitt as the administrator of the environmental protection agency. within the agency, scott has done an outstanding job. let's narrow it down. we're back with our panel. sam, what's the word, on the throne or it's all done -- >> why bother talking about it? it's undebatable. not just because "the daily beast" reported it. you were fired while on the can is the most inglorious, dehumanizing -- >> are you sitting down?

>> this man was running exxon/mobil two years ago, and then to end in this fashion. >> it's not like they had footage of it. so that would have been -- >> we have a mental image that will never go away. >> john kelly should get honorable mention because he got his, the guy who did the firing there, they had this nice agreement that he be on a friday, that he'd be fired on a monday and trump goes out and fires him on saturday. so he had the disgrace, too. i think overall, if not the final moment for jeff sessions, the long bit like trump tweet after tweet cut off his leg, then his arm, everything else. it was the extended year-long disgrace, sort of punctuated by him just going like this. >> he was being rewarded for being the first guy to rally to trump in the beginning of the whole campaign. that was how he was being rewarded, jeff sessions. >> i always -- i respected jeff sessions for going through the montie python thing. he stayed.

he was committed to whatever abusive regressive things he wanted to do with the law. getting fired on the toilet, taking it through the heart while you're on the commode, that is the worst way to go. there is no -- i never thought trump could do better than locking omarosa out of the white house or kicking reince priebus out of the motorcade, that was worse. this was the most inglorious way to get fired. >> jennifer? >> they gave us a mental image for the ages. i don't know how it could be any worse. >> unfortunately his family knows all about it. okay, i'm going to give the award right now. it's been given to -- you guys are really -- thinking -- best inglorious exit from the trump world, rex tillerson, fired on the toilet. >> this was rigged. this is rigged. >> it's probably going to be in his obituary. anyway, this year also gave trump a chance to use twitter to fight with celebrities. here are the nominees for best trump celebrity beef of 2018. first up, when tonight show host jimmy fallon expressed regret about his lighthearted interview with trump during the 2016 campaign, trump went after the comedian writing, jimmy fallon now whimpering to all he did the

famous hair show with me where he seriously messed up my hair and that he would have done it differently because it is said to have humanized me. well, he's taking heat. he called and said, monster ratings. be a man, jimmy. the second nominee is lebron james. in an interview the nba star lebron james accused trump of using sports to divide the country. hours later trump wrote, lebron james was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, don lemon. he made lebron look smart, which isn't easy to do. i like mike. our final nominee, oprah. trump wrote, just watch the very insecure -- i've never seen her insecure -- oprah winfrey who at one point i knew very well. interview of panel of people on "60 minutes." trump added, hope oprah runs so she can be exposed and defeated just like all the others. boy, everybody likes oprah. she's always secure. lebron james is really a heroic figure. >> right. you know, i have to go with the lebron james because he insulted

not just one, but two african americans in the same tweet. >> with his usual meme which is low i.q. that's the standard. >> exactly. >> white women are not good looking. >> to get two, two people who are by all accounts very articulate, very intelligent people, very articulate as joe biden would say. that was kind of a skill in getting two people in one tweet. >> what do you think, lebron and oprah? >> i do, and i think because the economy of words. he was able to do it so quickly. as i recall, he was right about to take a campaign swing to ohio, which made it all the more foolish. it worked out very badly for him. >> if you take it on jimmy fallon who is the least political guy, he doesn't want to do politics. to bring him into the cage with him. >> here's the thing. he always picks the wrong kind of people to start fights with. he looks like a jerk starting a fight with jimmy fallon, he's everybody's name. it's lebron james.

if you're going to insult people the goal is not to have them end up looking better -- >> i love your i had i don't mean idiom. >> laura ingrams says shut up and dribble. he turns it into his own documentary series which he'll probably get an emmy out of it, and don lemon looked brilliant. everyone involved in the tweet looked better because trump screwed up. >> does ohio matter any more? lebron, even though he has subsequently left -- >> i'm going to say my choice -- >> he paid his dues. >> my choice is not lebron. my choice is oprah. there are few tweets that have as much projection as trump accusing someone else of being very insecure. that tweet reeked insecurity. >> why do you want to go back to the hair again? >> his greatest crime is trying to humanize him? >> fallon made a mistake of being nice to trump. it's like the worst -- >> dumb guy. >> we're going to go with the winner, best trump celebrity

beef as our producers have decided, lebron james. >> there we go. >> up next, who gave the best concession speech of the year and who wins the award for biggest suck up to president trump. there's an interesting category. this is "hardball" where the action is.

welcome back to "hardball." our next award goes to the best concession speech of 2018. the politicians who lost their races but still delivered powerful closing messages. the first nominee is arizona congresswoman martha mcsally

following a very combative senate race. mcsally struck a much more congenial tone sitting alongside her dog boomer. >> everybody, i called kyrsten sinema and congratulated her on becoming arizona's first female senator after a hard fought battle. i wish her all success as she represents the arizona senate. i want to say thank you to everybody who supported me in the campaign, my staff, volunteers, and everybody who voted for me. i'm so grateful for you as my wing man and wing women in this journey. >> i think that dog wanted a shorter speech. anyway, next up is texas congressman beto o'rourke. o'rourke fell short of unseating senator ted cruz but built a highly energetic base of supporters. here he is matching their enthusiasm while using some choice words. >> i want to thank this amazing campaign of people, not a dime from a single pac, all people, all the time in every single part of texas.

all of you showing the country how you do this. [ cheers and applause ] i'm so [ bleep ] proud of you guys. >> there was another word there. the final nominee, utah congresswoman mia love. even before her loss was official, president trump criticized her for not having sufficiently embraced him. she took a parting shot at trump during her speech. >> the president's behavior towards me made me wonder, what did he have to gain by saying such a thing about a fellow republican? it was not really about asking him to do more, was it? or was it something else? well, mr. president, we'll have to chat about that. >> sam, jennifer, jason, dana are all back. to me the real feeling in politics comes with the concession speech. we put it out there, we know you and we don't want you. it's brutal. the people who can handle that, to me are the heroes of politics.

jason? >> they're the most honest. i remember looking back on the past. you don't want someone, hey, i'm going to disney world. you want someone who says i respect the work you've done. i have to say it's martha mcsally. you come to the realization you worked for a terrible guy, i can't accept that concession speech. anyone can go blue and get enthusiasm. but martha mcsally was not only congenial, she was honest. and guess what? it ended up getting her the job anyway. >> she was appointed to the other seat. >> exactly. >> i think that's true. she did get a very significant consolation prize. that's only because they could not give it to boomer, though. >> that's true. >> eager for the position. but i disagree on mia love. i think it was very powerful. there was much more to it than that. she was talking about how republicans didn't reach out into minority communities. she said of president trump it's all transactional, no relationships. i don't think there's ever been a better distillation of the

criticism of that. >> i don't like concession speeches where you sort of take a 180 from how you campaign. with mcsally, she accused her opponent of treason literally days before. mia love never raised those concerns about trump prior to the election. for me it has to be beto o'rourke who took the theme of the campaign saying we need to build off this and make it national and now it turns out he may go national. >> was it a play to the millennials? >> the internal -- >> it was a plea. >> both. >> my favorite, i have two favorites in history. one of them is stevenson, adelaide stevenson. everybody's liberal hero. he lost to eisenhower. everybody knew he wasn't going to beat him. he lost twice. he was quoting lincoln. he said, i'm too old to cry but it hurts too much to laugh. and the other one was ed brook, the former senator from massachusetts, and he got beaten after all kinds of problems with his life. and he got beaten, he said, i did not cry in the mountain, i will not cry in the valley. >> wow.

poetry. >> great stuff. >> i always think of al gore as the class act going out with all the flags. >> richard goodwin wrote it. >> there you go. that's a start. >> john mccain, arizona is the only place where mothers don't tell their children they can grow up to be president. >> good point. >> boomer, you're not supposed to work with dogs or children. in this case boomer really helped. and i think the fact that he was no longer paying attention to her and we were no longer paying attention to her, but paying attention to boomer really kind of sealed the deal. >> he humanized her. >> f.d.r., checkers with nixon and boomer with mcsally. anyway, now, the best concession speech in a fast track field, beto o'rourke. the f-bomb included. our next award goes to the best suck-up to president trump and the best -- our first nominee is new florida governor ron desantis. during his campaign for governor, it wasn't too clean anyway, desantis aired this campaign ad.

>> everyone knows my husband ron desantis is endorsed by president trump. but he's also an amazing dad. ron loves playing with the kids. >> build the wall. >> he reads stories. >> then mr. trump said, you're fired. i love that part. >> he's teaching madison to talk. >> make america great again. >> in the days of mao tse-tung, that would have been normal. our second nominee goes to the 18 republican members of congress who nominated donald trump for a nobel peace prize back in may of this year for his efforts to denuclearize the korean peninsula. in case you're wondering, north korea still has a full control of all their nuclear weapons. and our final nominee is fox news anchor sean hannity. hannity joined trump on stage during the president's final rally ahead of this year's midterm elections. [ cheers and applause ]

>> by the way, all those people in the back are fake news. [ cheers and applause ] >> mr. president, i did an opening monologue today and i had no idea you were going to invite me up here. and the one thing that has made and defined your presidency more than anything else -- promises made, promises kept. >> oh, this is difficult. a gut punch to all the people in the panel to even have to talk about this. dana, you know how to do it. sean hannity joining the guy he's covering and supporting him. >> the desantis moment is special by itself. the therapy bills the child is going to have later in life. just the sheer damage he did in that one moment. but i think you've got to look at hannity. it has a lifetime achievement element to this, this award, i think, it wasn't just that. it's every night.

also desantis was doing it for a purpose and he's a politician. those lawmakers are politicians. sean hannity threw his profession under the bus as soon as he got on stage. >> and took an attack on the guys in the back row. >> those fake news people in the back. you're a member of the news. >> maybe he was not. >> well, you're employed by the news. >> i can't go with desantis, that's child abuse. that is a step too far. i'm not in favor of bringing children into any of these things. >> does the end justify the means? he got elected. >> besides, he was teaching the child to read incorrectly. he was saying trump when he was telling him how to read. that was like really -- >> i would say that was a base election strategy. >> very good, like you get them when you're young. keep them -- look, when sean hannity has given up any semblance of integrity -- >> if it's possible, i will defend sean to this extent. he says he's not a journalist.

>> that's true, he's a commentary person. >> you can be a commentary journalist. >> there are employees in the back -- >> fake news. >> i say it's desantis. i say it's the corruption of a minor. i say it's having that child build this wall. i don't see it as being part of that campaign. those videos stay on youtube forever. that child will one day be in junior high, one day be in high school and have to deal with that. >> he criticized obama being given the nobel peace prize prematurely. how about the aide who wanted to give it to trump for what he did in north korea before he did anything in north korea? >> a shining success. >> it was a bold gesture. it would have to be shared 18 ways. hannity would have to be shared with laura and tucker. >> the guys in the gas station bet on this. so, i think sucking up is probably not ended, right, do you think? watching the weeks before this -- let me go with this one.

best suck-up, okay, ron desantis. >> there we go, there we go. >> i think the wall. i mean, suppose he grows up liking hispanics? >> they're going to be in high school one day with other children. that's going to be a problem. >> there's a great line in south pacific. you have to be taught to hate. up next -- thank you, dear. you share our culture. >> absolutely. >> you and me. up next, the biggest flip-flop of the 2020 presidential race. the trumpiest thing said by someone not trump. you're watching "hardball."

welcome back to "hardball." our next award goes to the best flip-flop on 2020. a testament to the ongoing will they or won't they of the democratic nomination fight for 2020. first contender texas congressman beto o'rourke who said definitively he was not running for president before the midterms started.

>> i will not be a candidate for president in 2020. aim s amy and i made a decision not to rule anything out. >> that was fast. next is new york senator kiersten gillibrand who promised to finish a six-year term in the senate. let's watch. >> can you tell new yorkers who plan to vote for you on november 6 that you will, if reelected, serve out your six-year senate term. >> i will. >> midterms are over. what are you concentrating on now? [ laughter ] is there another election you might be concentrating on? >> i will promise you i will give it a long hard thought of consideration. [ cheers and applause ] >> our final nomty is ohio senator sherwood brown. who initially said running for president didn't interest him. >> i don't like the idea of running for president. i don't, i don't really have any real interest in that. >> we're seriously thinking about it. we're seriously talking about it. >> sam stein, jennifer ruben,

dana mill bank. the song was what a difference a day made by diana washington. these people flip-flop mechanically. bill clinton did that. >> i'm shocked that politicians are flip-flopping. i think there is only one answer to this question. i mean, the beto thing was in the context of him running for, you know -- expecting if he won the senate would he not run for president. the sherrod brown thing is one thing. she said as if the democratic party is clamoring for a pro wall street candidate. >> i believe it's beto for this reason. the kind of gall and confidence and arrogance it takes to go from i don't think i'm running and then you lose, and then say i'm going for a bigger prize, you need that kind of arrogance to run for president. that is flip of tremendous proportions. >> i give it actually to sherrod brown. he was clever.

he didn't say he was running. he said he didn't have an interest. he developed an interest. >> he didn't like the idea of running, not that he didn't want to be president. >> exactly. >> it's changed. >> when you're older, you see different things. yes, exactly. >> i disagree, not toobin -- he may not be interested in it. he could be compelled to do if for things other than personal interest. in that way i have to give it to kristen gillibrand. she was in a race that basically was meaningless. she didn't have to make that promise to woo voters. she was going to win that contest. she did it anyway and flip-flopped. >> the interviewer, we all get to do it, how do you lock the person in so they can't get out, put them in the handcuffs? how do you have them say, do you swear to god you're not going to -- >> exactly. >> there, you can't run. >> you show them all the previous videos, show them all the other things, make it abundantly clear. i had this experience with watching elizabeth warren.

you're not running for president, but you're speaking to hbcus, you're going to north carolina. give all the evidence beforehand and get them to deny it. >> he's going to historically black colleges. >> i was at morgan. >> you would do that in south carolina. smart move. right here, sign this document. anyway, we're going to see who flip-flopped the worst or the best -- >> i'm so nervous. >> what was yours? >> sam, i think sam is ahead of the rest of us on these. >> a tie. how boring. up next, best flip-flop of 2020, we have a tie. beto o'rourke and sherrod brown. what did you think of that? >> i think that's fine. sherrod my former senator who i thought was going to run, i never believed him. and beto, he's basically unemployed so he has nothing else to do. >> it could be there is a dynamic here. when he got reelected by a huge number, that's when he really was like you were mentioning, mike, actually drafted because they need somebody from that industrial area that will appeal to those -- excuse me -- white working guys that can flip back to the democrats. >> maybe the judges were

thinking best flip-flop in the sense of who did it the most deftly. >> that's how i took the question. >> gillibrand was the worst flip-flop. >> what would be a deft way of preparing yourself so you wouldn't be seen flipping? >> sherrod brown. >> who likes the idea of running for president? it's terrible. >> he went through linguistic gymnastics the likes of which we don't often see. >> up next the trumpiest thing said by someone not named trump. joe biden told a crowd in montana. quote, i think i'm the most qualified person in the country to be president. actually i think he believes that. he may be right. next is georgia governor elect brian kemp doing his best trump impression in a campaign ad earlier this year. >> i got a big truck in case i need to round up criminal illegals and take them home myself. >> finally democratic congresswoman maxine waters who attempted to get the president to call her low i.q. his own

nickname. let's watch. >> this is a dishonorable human being. he is a con man. he came to this job as a con man. i really call him, you know, don the con man. >> i think she was going to a buildup that didn't quite hit hard there. this guy kemp, you know, i don't know, the truck. first of all, the most offensive thing he said, we can argue about immigration, illegal immigration. but calling people illegals, reduces them to not not even beings. illegals, that's all they are. he used that term because he knew it was nasty. >> i saw that in georgia. this is on top of him doing a commercial where he had a potentially loaded gun in front of a 16-year-old whether the kid could ask -- brian kemp is the clearest example, i'm going to act like trump but lack any semblance of the charisma that made this man capable of winning president of the united states.

>> i don't think of that as trumpian. >> the donut version. >> i don't think it was trumpian. i don't foresee and could never foresee trump getting into a pickup truck. >> he likes big trucks. >> scott brown up in massachusetts got elected -- >> that's not a trumpian thing. trump would get into his helicopter. >> i give maxine waters an a for effort. the delivery was faltering. she needs to hammer away at that. she needs to practice more. maybe next year she will be able to get that. kemp probably gets it. that's sort of the emblem of what the republicans have come. they're all doing it, but he did that just right with the pickup and the accent. >> trump is not used to rough terrain. i'm glad he went to arlington the other day, cemetery to respect our soldiers. he needed different shoes. this is rough territory for him. the trumpiest thing, how about biden?

>> no, because biden is qualified. >> he does say what he thinks. that's how he gets -- >> he's done worse. >> it's sort of endearing compared to this guy. >> uncle joe. >> there he is. >> the trumpiest thing said by someone not trump, brian kemp. up next, the oddest moment in trump world this year. there were a lot to choose from, of course. these odd moments. how many times have you said to yourself, is this real? you're watching "hardball." you'.

welcome back to "hardball." we have one more award tonight and it's a big one. the oddest moment in trump world this year. there are some big contenders, of course. we start with musician kanye west's support of trump and his bizarre visit to the white house in october. let's watch that. >> you know, my dad and my mom separated, so i didn't have a lot of male energy in my home.

and also i'm married to a family that, you know, not a lot of male energy going on. it was something about when i put this hat on, it made me feel like superman. you made a superman -- if he don't look good, we don't look good. this is our president. he has to be the freshest, the flyest, the flyest planes, the best factories. we have to make our core be empowered. >> the flyest. and next there was that time trump tried to talk to the mexican president on the phone in front of cameras, but repeatedly couldn't get the phone to work. let's watch that one. >> and i believe the president is on the phone. enrique? hello? do you want to put that on this phone, please?

hello? be helpful. >> it seems like saturday night live so often. also in contention president trump's infamous walk up the steps of air force one with toilet paper stuck to his shoes. as we are watching right now. >> if he'd only known. >> we're back with that image in your head we're back with our panel, sam, jennifer, jason, dana. there's so much here. will somebody give me a cultural backdrop, the back story on kanye west, does anybody know this guy? what's his politics? >> he has no politics. and when i tell you there was no greater single unifying moment in the black community this year than to trade kanye west in the racial draft, it was after this happened. everyone wanted to just send him away. he was disinvited from all cookouts forever more. >> what do you think it was, people lose their heads when they go in the oval office, i've

heard. >> he's an absolute narcissist. >> what about jim brown being along with him? everybody looks up to -- >> he was done years ago. we remember the great movies he did in the '70s. >> i remember him playing for syracuse, the browns. >> that was years ago. given the feeling people have about the nfl, jim isn't the best representative either. west, it was bizarre, it was insane. this was one of the few things i can say in the news, my mother called. who is this kanye west person? why is he acting -- there was no more bizarre trumpian moment in 2018. >> the phone thing was a joke. an old bob newhart record. he's talking to nobody. enrique, he calls him by his first name. we're all calm. >> this is such a hard category. there are so many. who could forget the paper towels in the middle of the hurricane? who could forget him standing

next to vladimir putin taking his side against the intelligence community? it is endless. >> how about him standing next to governor brown who is coming off sophisticated these days, talking about you have to do more raking. as if he's ever had a rake in his hand. >> that's the comic genius of the trump administration. these things happen every day. think about just recently in the oval office with pelosi and schumer, poor mike pence wishing he could eject from the whole scene. the president talking about how you need i.d. to buy a box of cereal and people are changing their hats so they can vote multiple times. so it is very hard to pick from among these. >> one of the best things about the phone episode, it happened on other times, he's talking on speakerphone but he has the phone up to his ear which is highly unnecessary. it has to be kanye west if only we saw something exceptionally rare, which was even trump was a little freaked out. >> it was overdone. >> at the end of every single trump speech or comment that you

could freeze it and play the curb your enthusiasm music. it's always some bizarre -- the beat music as well. he's just always absolutely lost. i will add another strange moment. this is trump related. to see kavanaugh say "i like beer" in tears. if it's not trump himself, he leans to other people behaving trump -- >> here's a shocker. a couple days ago we saw the previous president visiting children's hospital and looking as though it was the most natural thing and nicest thing we've seen in years. a president comfortable playing santa claus with kids who were thrilled. it reminded you of the humanity in this country and the naturalness, it wasn't odd. it was just nice. now to give the award. here we go. >> in fairness, we would not treat trump well if he put on a santa hat. >> i'm not sure. the oddest moment in trump world this year, kanye west running away with it, baby, with support from jim brown. thank you, sam stein, jennifer

ruben. i'm glad we only do this once a year. we have enough for every night. jason johnson, of course, dana mill bank. up next, a thank you to all the people who work tireless to bring you "hardball" every day. you're watching "hardball."

i'd like to end the show tonight of course by thanking all the people who bring "hardball" to you night after night. you don't see them, but i do. i know how truly valuable they are. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. merry christmas and happy new year.

tonight on "all in." >> we're just fighting for our rights, you know? if that's illegal, here we are. >> the stories that got forgotten as donald trump swallowed up all the oxygen. >> enrique? you can hook him up. you tell me when. a big thing, a lot of people waiting. hello? do you want to put that on this phone, please? hello? >> from the trump family's big lie. >> mr. trump received the equivalent today of at least $413 million from his father's real estate empire, making him a millionaire by age 8. >> to the mar-a-lago cronies secretly given control of the